Their outgoing nature may bring them into contact with other animals - increasing their exposure to disease.

Fortunately for your pet, vaccinations are available to prevent may dog diseases. Vaccinating your dog is the best and least costly way to prevent disease. Prevention assures the best quality of life for your pet, and it costs less than treatment.

Vaccines protect pets against common viruses and bacteria. At some time in their lives, almost all dogs will be exposed to a serious or even fatal infectious disease. Without proper vaccination, they could be unprotected.

All warm-blooded animals (dogs, cats, livestock, wildlife) can become infected with rabies virus. Because rabies is also a threat to humans, all pets should be vaccinated.

Rabies is caused by a virus that attacks nerve tissue. The disease develops slowly over 10 days to several months. Death always occurs once a rabies-infected animal shows signs of disease.

Rabies generally takes one of two forms in animals:

• "Dumb" rabies, where the lower jaw drops, excessive drooling occurs, and the animal avoids contact.
• Furious rabies, where the animal becomes unnaturally aggressive.

In North America, most rabies exists in wildlife, especially raccoons, skunks, foxes, and bats. Rabies is spread by bites or saliva of infected animals. Therefore, an unvaccinated dog or cat involved in a fight with a wild animal should be suspect for rabies. When rabies is diagnosed, animals must be euthanized (humanely destroyed).

If humans are infected, they can be vaccinated successfully in early stages of the disease. Treatment, however, is unpleasant and costly.

Canine distemper(CD) virus is widespread in the dog population. Up to 75% of unprotected dogs can develop this disease, and many-especially puppies-may die. So all dogs should be vaccinated for CD when they are puppies. A dog with CD may have diarrhea, fever, respiratory disease, seizures, muscular twitches, and watery discharge from the eyes and nose.

Most adult dogs that develop infectious canine hepatitis recover, but the disease in puppies is often fatal. Hepatitis is spread primarily through infected urine. The virus attacks organs throughout an unprotected dog's body, producing fever, respiratory disease, diarrhea, liver and eye damage, and changes in the blood.

Viral diarrhea is easily spread, because millions of viral particles remain in the loose, watery stool of an infected dog. Adult dogs generally survive viral diarrhea. But in puppies with diarrhea the loss of fluids can easily be fatal. Dogs can be protected from viral diarrhea with vaccines against parvovirus. In puppies, several vaccinations are required three to four weeks apart, because of the presence of maternal antibodies.

When your dog is exposed to sick dogs at a kennel or dog show, it can catch kennel cough. Also referred to as "canine cough" or by its scientific name, trachebrochitis, this stubborn respiratory infection can keep dogs coughing for weeks or months.

Canine respiratory disease isn't usually fatal unless pneumonia develops. But it can cause appetite loss, lack of energy, and poor appearance, in addition to the coughing.

When infected dogs cough, disease-causing organisms get into the air and can easily infect other dogs. Animals kept at boarding kennels, shelters, pet shops, and veterinary clinics are considered at higher risk. So are those going to grooming shops and dog shows. They're often given extra vaccinations to protect them from canine respiratory disease.

A wide variety of viruses and bacteria can be involved in canine respiratory disease. The three most commonly involved are:

• Canine parainfluenza virus
• Canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2)
• Bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria.

Vaccination helps, prevent, not cure, disease. Vaccines contain disease-causing viruses or bacteria that have been chemically changed so they don't cause disease. When your dog is injected with a vaccine, the animal's immune system produces special substances called antibodies that work against the viruses or bacteria that cause the disease. Later, if your pet is exposed to that disease, these antibodies will help destroy those viruses or bacteria.

In many cases, vaccines against several diseases are combined, reducing the number of shots your pet must have. Despite progress to make vaccination as comfortable as possible, chemicals in some vaccines can occasionally sting when injected.

The protection provided by a vaccine gradually declines after a pet is vaccinated. That's why annual re-vaccination along with a health check-up is always recommended.

A nursing puppy receives antibodies from its mother's mild (called maternal antibodies) that protect it from disease during the first months of its life. Unfortunately, these antibodies can also keep a vaccine from being effective.

These maternal antibodies gradually decrease during the first few months of the puppy's life. That's why puppies are given a series of vaccinations until they are 16 weeks of age or older. That way, if maternal antibodies interfere with early vaccinations, later doses will still stimulate the puppy to produce its own antibodies to the disease.

Your veterinarian will have a list of recommended vaccines, which may be changed to meet your pet's needs. Some factors your veterinarian will consider before beginning a vaccination program are:

• AGE: Most vaccines have limited effectiveness until a puppy is weaned, because the maternal antibodies neutralize vaccine.
• OVERALL HEALTH: Poorly nourished or sick animals or those on some medications may not respond well to vaccination. That's why a physical exam is required.
• NEED FOR DIAGNOSTIC TESTS: An animal with parasites (like worms or fleas) or one infected with a disease may not respond to vaccination.
• RISK OF EXPOSURE: Vaccination against some diseases may not be necessary if the risk of getting them is low.

Vaccines help protect your dog from infectious diseases, but other aspects of your pet's health are equally important, especially nutrition and parasite control. Your veterinarian is your partner in insuring the best preventive care for your feline companion and friend and to keep you informed about new developments for providing a long, healthy life for you pet.

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